Upper Cook Inlet Task Force announces members, meetings

Several local fishermen have been named to serve on an Upper Cook Inlet Task Force appointed by the Alaska Board of Fisheries to look into issues around the Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan.

The 11-member task force is designed to represent a cross-section of fisheries in the upper Cook Inlet and includes drift and set gillnet fishermen, two sport fishermen, one guided sport fisherman, a personal use fisherman and a marine recreation fisherman.

The task force is co-chaired by Board of Fish members Vince Webster, of King Salmon, and Tom Kluberton, of Talkeetna.

The group will meet in Kenai during the next four months, according to a tentative schedule.

Its mission is to recommend a set of adjustments to the management plan at the Board of Fisheries Statewide finfish meeting in March 2013.

Each local member of the task force has decades of experience in Cook Inlet fisheries and several said they hoped to lend their expertise to a discussion about the state’s decline in king salmon returns.

Kevin Delaney retired from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as the statewide director of the division of sport fish.

Before becoming the statewide director, Delaney worked for 15 years as a sport fishery manager on the Kenai and Susitna watershed.

He currently works as a consultant for the Kenai River Sportfishing Association and holds one of two seats for sport fishermen on the task force.

“When the original king salmon management plans were developed in the 1980s I was the regional supervisor,” Delaney said. “The initial sonar projects, the initial tagging projects, these all occurred under my watch at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. I don’t know if that makes me smarter or stupider, but that’s the facts. I was there at the beginning.”

Delaney said he felt that with his knowledge of the history of management and sport fishing in the inlet, he was obligated to help the task force.

The other sportfishing representative, Dwight Kramer, chairman of the Kenai Area Fisherman’s Association also has several decades of experience in the Cook Inlet and on the Kenai River.

“I’ve been sportfishing on the Kenai since 1983. I’ve been to every Upper Cook Inlet Board of Fish meeting since 2003. I’m pretty familiar with all of the action,” he said.

Kramer said his focus was on king salmon conservation.

“Private anglers don’t have any commercial interest in the fisheries so our interest is conservation of the resource so the resource is well protected and there for future generations of private anglers to enjoy,” he said. “I think sometimes the discussions by other commercial endeavors get tuned into financial concerns and sometimes the concerns of the resource aren’t always a topic.”

Both Delaney and Kramer said they had seen a marked decline in the number of kings returning to the Kenai River.

Delaney said when the management plans were designed in the 1970s and 1980s Fish and Game was dealing with more salmon.

“We’re not absolutely sure how many were in the river back then, we were estimating using sonar and mark recapture. The three runs we averaged came up with an average of 45,000,” Delaney said. “There’s no question we’re dealing with fewer fish and significantly fewer fish so that’s got to drive the process more than any other one fact.”

Kramer said the issue wasn’t just fewer fish, but also smaller fish.

“Back prior to even 2005 ... if you didn’t come home with a 50 to 60 pound fish it was kind of a disappointing trip,” he said. “It has changed dramatically. That’s not that long ago, seven or eight years. So it has been a pretty rapid decline in those big fish.”

Kramer said he was looking forward to a discussion around the science in the king fishery and hoped Fish and Game biologists would have a good explanation of how they planned to measure future runs.

“The last few years everything has been kind of in flux and nothing is certain so I’m hoping (Fish and Game) can convince myself and maybe some others that they have some idea of how they can build more certainty into what they’re doing,” he said.

A seat reserved for guided sport fishermen was given to Andy Szczesny, co-owner of Alaska Fish and Float and Dennis Gease, of Kenai was given a seat as a personal use fisherman.

Three setnet fishermen, Jim Butler III, Ken Coleman and Robert Williams will represent the East Side Setnet Fishery.

Coleman, who fishes on the beach about halfway between the Kenai and Kasilof rivers, just north of the Blanchard line, said he has been setnetting for 40 years.

“I’ve got a lot of systemic experience and I thought that could be helpful in this process,” he said.

Butler fishes north of the Kenai River on Salamatof Beach and has been there for about nine seasons. Before that, he said he was a tender for a fish processing plant, a setnet deckhand and a driftnet fisherman.

Butler said he was hoping the task force would get more information about the last fishing season which saw dramatic closures in the sport, marine and commercial fisheries.

“We know about the impacts of how the management decisions got made ... I hope we can get educated by the department about how it is they made the decisions. What was the basis of those decisions? I’d say education is key,” he said. “What tools did the department have or ... do they need?”

Butler said the thought the public would be able to participate in the process and wanted to see people affected by the fisheries make their voices heard.

“I’d like to see broad support because I think this year demonstrated that the decisions and the management affects our community at large,” he said.

One driftnetter, Ian Pitzman, of Homer, will also represent commercial fishing interests on the task force.

Luther Anderson has run the King of Kings guide Service and Lodge in Happy Valley for 20 years. Anderson said he primarily guides saltwater fishing trips of king salmon and halibut.

Anderson said he wanted to see practical solutions to support the ailing king fishery so his son could continue to work in the family business.

“I want to make sure that he’ll be able to do the same thing that I’m doing and hoping we can keep the industry alive and thriving so that we can make a living at it,” Anderson said.

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First and foremost, we all must remember that what we are talking about trying to preserve are fish that are left over once the draggers have wasted hundreds of thousands of kings in bycatch. But that is an issue that the state and our governor seem to have little interest in addressing. So, we are left to try to manage the remainder of kings that do make it back to Upper Cook Inlet, with a number of user groups heavily staked in the success or failure of that endeavor.

Taking a look at the numbers that ADFG has posted on their site (bottom of page) http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/index.cfm?ADFG=main.kenaiChinook it is clear where the majority of kings are taken; note the last column on the far right. By far, the biggest impact on the kings is the set net fishery. In only 3 out of the 11 years posted did the sport fishery take more than the set net fishery. I only point out these numbers because harvest seems to be the most accurately reported numbers we have in this thing.

It is clear, over the years that regulatory changes can be and have been a huge tool to fish and game in managing the kings, particularly on the Kenai with closures and restrictions having a quick and significant impact. This last season's hook and release emergency order on Cook Inlet was basically a closure as virtually no boats fished during the order, particularly charters. Obviously the closure of the set net fishery had a huge impact on the kings and more so on the local community with the loss of the season.

When looking at history, we can only imagine where we would be if, when runs were good, the numbers taken by both sport and commercial interests were reduced. I hope that the members of this task force can use their experience and expertise and come up with regulatory options that will both favor the fish and leave them with the economic livelihood the local community needs as well as a continued legacy of a great, world class fish run.

Wow, Kevin Delaney, a non-resident, assigned to the King Salmon task force. Delaney did work and live in Alaska for many years but he lives in Colorado now. He is not a resident of Alaska. Why is a non-resident deciding how our fish will be managed?

Did he get a PFD check this year? Did the people who selected him check?

Local control of our fisheries was one of the driving forces behind the push for statehood 50 years ago. Why are wenrelinquishing local control now after the state of Alaska has made so much progress? Makes me wonder where the priorities of our governor lie. Is it with the residents of Alaska or Outside interests?

As long as there is a KRSA affiliated person on this task force we can all be assured of a fair and balanced approach to the issue...........NOT NOT NOT!

Commercial Fisheries are comprised of more than just draggers. Sport fishermen are too idiotic to see it that. They lump all Comm Fish folks into one horrible, bully, oh dear, oh dear, group. They blame every single fishery issue on them. Couldn't be there are too many guides on the river? Couldn't be the thousands dipping their lines every year in combat fishing? No, oh heck no! It's them dang draggers, every time.

too bad she didn't go when she had the chance like she said she wanted to in her September post !
{Seafarer 09/22/12 - 10:18 am. """Surrounded By Half Wits
I knew I didn't like getting stuck on this peninsula, but after reading these comments, I am sure of it and will work even harder to get away from here."""

(WotW the word you need is hypocrite. can she go with a PFD?) Fishing on the Peninsula is a Combat Zone.

Regarding the dip netter (personal use) appointment of Dennis Gease. It's interesting that although a small amount of information is given in this article for each person appointed to the task force, nothing is said about this person except their name. I understand that this person is the father of Ricky Gease, executive director of Kenai River Sportfishing, Assoc.
I have no knowledge of this person, so I'm not sure of this. If this is true, is this really just a local dip netter wanting to conserve the resource? In fact, is this truly a dip netter? It's just interesting that there wasn't more information as there was about the other appointments in the article.

First of all, thank you for remembering me from a few months ago. Kinda creepy, too.

Yes, I'm still here and yes, I still want out. I miss the saltwater more than you Riverheads can ever know. You would pee your pants in a little 5 foot sea!

Seawater runs thru my veins. How I got stuck in this inland hell is really just a money thing. Every time I think my nest egg will get me back to Real People, some business on this Peninsula raises it's prices. Mostly to bilk the tourists.

Your disrepect of one of Alaska's oldest and most pioneering resource is appalling and shows how many Cheechakos there are here. You oilies never spend your money here and think you are bigshots because you work in the field but own homes in sunny Texas. This Alaskan is not swayed by your I'm-Richer-Than-You attitude. Your rudeness is profound. Your lewdness towards women is sickening.